Irazu Orosi Lankester

The Irazu, Orosi, Lankester Tour is a trip that will take you through the history, culture, nature, and magnificent landscapes of Costa Rica’s mountains.

The Irazu, Orosi, Lankester Tour starts as your tour guide, and transportation picks you up at the hotel to take you south on the Panamerican Highway and to the province of Cartago. 

This area of the Central Valley has a remarkable Costa Rican authentic flavor. The landscape surprises you with its lusciousness, fertile fields, and endless views.  The Irazu Orosi and Lankester Tour will take you up the mountain through an incredible array of different plantations. On the volcano slopes, there are fields planted with onions, garlic, potatoes, beets, barley, oats, and corn, to name a few. 

On clear days the road up is flanked by a massive view of the Central Valley and its mountains. Sometimes even above the clouds.  And on sunny days you may even see, from the Irazu Volcano’s summit, the active and quite close Turrialba Volcano. 

After visiting the craters of the Irazú and maybe even enjoying a cup of hot coffee, your vehicle will take you and your fellow travelers to the old capital city, Cartago. This was the first city found in Costa Rica, and it was the capital until a few years after the independence from Spain. 

It is also the home of the Patron Saint of Costa Rica, the Virgin of the Angels, an exceptionally popular sanctuary that gets the country’s largest pilgrimage every August. Millions of believers walk for days and even weeks in a journey of faith called La Romeria.

Your tour guide will tell you the legend of the image found right under the place where the fascinating Basilica of Los Angeles stands now. With a unique mix of colonial architecture and 19th-century Byzantine style, the church elevates the spirit with its imposing devotion. 

Next, you will go to the Lankester Garden. This protected area is a University of Costa Rica Center for research. Here, you will see more than 800 species of orchids, as well as bromeliads and countless species of other plants.

At Lankester Botanical Gardens, you will see different environments, starting with big orchid nurseries where you will discover some of the most beautiful blooms in tropical nature. 

Afterward, you will walk on trails surrounded by bamboo and into well-manicured Japanese styled gardens, and later enjoy a great alley of succulents (Cacti). And, of course, a section of the park where the tropical rainforest has been left to grow back. 

Your tour guide will tell you about this very intense biological realm and all its natural history. 

After this, we will continue to the Valley of Orosi. Here, we will visit the Orosi Catholic Church, one of the country’s unique colonial treasures. Inside, you will find a small museum with some religious items from the Colony and later periods.

You will delight in a typical lunch right by the edge of the Cachi Lagoon and its surrounding impressive coffee plantations. 

Enjoy the peace and beauty of this getaway!